Tips for Section C: American Film - Comparative Study on the FM2 paper

You are now in a position to attempt some practice essays for Section C: American Film - Comparative Study on the FM2 paper. Remember that you only have to discuss TWO films - Reservoir Dogs (Quentin Tarantino, 1992) and Ocean's Eleven (Steven Soderbergh, 2001).

Whatever question that you choose to do - whether during practice or during the actual exam - you must make the point that the fundamental differences between the two films are largely as a result of their INSTITUTIONAL CONTEXT - that is, one is a low-budget independent film whilst the other is a big-budget, studio-produced Hollywood blockbuster. This influences almost everything about the films - the difference in cast, the locations/settings, the level of violence and, most crucially, the narrative structure of both films and the ways in which they deviate from/conform to genre conventions.

In an introduction you may wish to include details of budget, cast, certificates, release patterns and box-office takings - to help make the point that these elements are a direct result of the fact that Reservoir Dogs is an independent film and Ocean's Eleven is a mainstream Hollywood movie. At the end of your introduction you should clearly make the point that the most significant result of these differing institutional contexts is the ways that Reservoir Dogs plays around with conventional narrative structure and almost completely abandons the expected conventions of the heist genre, whilst Ocean's Eleven largely conforms to conventions of genre and follows a largely linear narrative pattern.

The bulk of any essay you write for this section must focus on narrative structure and genre conventions - it may be a good idea to deal with the conventional narrative structure of the heist movie act by act - outlining the ways in which Ocean's Eleven conforms to the expected pattern whilst Reservoir Dogs does not. Each point you make must be well supported by detailed examples from both films. Remember, you don't need the kind of textual analysis that you have done for your AS coursework - BUT you must describe actual specific examples from both films, relating them clearly to the points you make.

Before the exam, you should watch both films again, making notes on key scenes so that you can use them in your essays. Click on the links below to watch the films.

Reservoir Dogs

Ocean's Eleven